Title: Fire Ice
Author: EagleBlaze
Status: Complete
Chapters: Oneshot
Summary: Beside Ron, a shadow gave a little whimper and ran out of sight. I barely caught a glimpse of red hair before realizing it was Ginny who had been with Ron. Harry is caught kissing Hermione in an empty classroom one night. Will he be able to fix things up with Ginny?
Challenge: SIYE's Summer 2004 Challenge
Spoilers: PP/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, and OotP
Fire Ice
The silence was deafening. Wearing my Invisibility cloak, I stared through Hagrid's window in complete shock. I saw Sirius' form morph through my tears. It felt as if I had been hit with a Bludger. I started to think, it couldn't be Sirius, and Sirius was dead because of me. Then, he slowly transformed into a woman. It was a woman who had a heart-shaped face and bubblegum-pink hair.
Nymphadora Tonk's voice filtered through the crack in the window. "Sorry to scare you like that, Hagrid."
"That's all right. Professor Dumbledore explained to me that I would be meeting someone with the information on where You-Know-Who was. But I just didn't expect-. Lucky Harry's not around, the poor kid."
Though I couldn't see it, I imagined Tonk's head nodding sympathetically. "Yes, the reason why I took on Sirius' form tonight was so that I could feel closer to him."
I slowly crept away from the window; my desire to talk with Hagrid about the Prophecy had long since evaporated. Ever since Sirius' death, I was having constant nightmares and flashes of what Lord Voldemort was up to.
When I did arrive at the Burrow, no one seemed to pay me any mind. They believed that I had needed some space to work through my grief. Life continued on and I stubbornly refused to come out of my room. No one seemed to know how to do anything about my behavior, which was just fine with me.
Which was why I received quite a shock when Ginny, this was Ginny mind you, Ron's little sister, actually had the nerve to storm into my room and shout at me on how I shouldn't wallow in self pity and remorse. I had thought that Mrs. Weasley had been rough on the Twins! Ginny had pinned my ears back for thirty minutes and was still going strong when I gave up. Eventually, I got out of bed and stared into those warm brown eyes of hers that were blazing with an inner fire that I never knew existed. I placed a finger on her lips and told her that I would come downstairs in a minute if she would just stop blasting my ear drums. I saw she had a triumphant look in her eyes as she skipped outside the door of Percy's old room. She hung back until I came out of my prison, which was quite a surprise to everyone else.
I started to hangout with her a lot after that incident. This helped improve my summer greatly, since Ron and Hermione had become a couple while I was at the Dursleys. This simply drove Ron insane since he couldn't figure out why I wanted to spend time with Ginny. Although, he couldn't really complain since he and Hermione were spending time alone with each other without the worry of me interrupting or feeling left out.
I reached the gate to the castle doors and hurried inside with the cold wind nipping at my ankles. Once inside, I pulled off the Invisibility cloak and stuffed it into my pocket. Wiping the sweat off of my forehead, where my fingers brushed against my famous lightening scar, my thoughts turned once again toward Ginny Weasley.
After I spent so much time with her over the summer I began to realize how much I enjoyed being in her presence. She never pressured me into revealing anything until I was ready to speak. I opened up about the dreaded prophecy, but she didn't shrink away from me, nor did she look at me with the expected sympathy. We both enjoyed playing Quidditch, and I realized as my fingers trailed over my lightening shaped scar, that both of us had been used by Lord Voldemort. I had to admit over the summer I had a crush on her. To my inner delight, I had overheard from one of the Twins, that she had never really been dating Dean Thomas. But I kept my inner desire a secret from everyone since I was afraid that if Lord Voldemort found out about it, she would be in more danger than she was already.
I proceeded down to the library because I was supposed to meet Ron, Hermione, and Ginny in order to complete a Transfiguration essay that was due the next morning.
Something brushed my ankles, startled I looked down to see the lamped like eyes of Mrs. Norris. I listened for any sounds of Filch and to my horror I heard his wheezing voice coming around the corner.
"Where are you my sweet? Have you caught anyone out of bounds again?" I crept softly towards an empty classroom and slipped inside it just in time. As I closed the door, I found someone pressed against my back.
"Harry?" Hermione's voice whispered in shock. "What are you doing in here?"
In complete surprise, I turned around too quickly. I tried to place my right hand on her shoulder in order to keep my balance, but to no avail.
Hermione had set her backpack behind my feet, and in my clumsiness I lost my balance and fell, dragging her down on top of me.
"Harry!" She yelped in surprised as her lips accidentally touched mine.
Suddenly I heard two familiar voice's filter through the crack in the doorway.
"Harry? Hermione? Is that you in there?" Ron's voice asked as he opened the door to the empty classroom.
As I blinked in the sudden light, I suppressed a groan.
I heard a sharp intake of breath and I braced myself for the explosion, since Ron had been chewing off any guy who had even tried to come close to Hermione.
Hermione scrambled off of my stomach and straightened her clothing, which had gotten messed up in the fall.
Beside Ron, a shadow gave a little whimper and ran out of sight. I barely caught a glimpse of red hair before realizing it was Ginny who had been with Ron.
Barely glancing at Ron's white face, I left Hermione to explain what had happened and I raced after Ginny.
Not really caring if Filch caught me or not I flew down the corridor and I saw Ginny's red mane of hair vanish into a hidden passage way that led to third floor corridor which was now empty since it wasn't in use and was rarely used for classrooms.
"Ginny! Ginny, stop!" I bellowed, as I ran toward her. I was afraid that I would lose her, forever.
She paused and her red hair glistened in the dim moonlight that filtered through the window.
She paused and her red hair glistened in the dim moonlight that filtered through the window.
"What do you want from me, Harry?" She said nastily. "How are you going to explain this one away?" To my horror I saw her start to cry. Her tears flowing like a waterfall.
I took a deep breath. I was about five feet away from her. I took a step forward and she stepped back, like a unicorn ready to flee at the slightest hint of danger.
"Ginny, what happened in there was a complete accident." She snorted in disgust, rolling her eyes in exasperation. The moonlight began to play tricks with her hair, making it sparkle like fiery rubies.
"I was just coming back from Hagrid's hut and I ran to an empty classroom to escape from Filch. Hermione was already hiding in there. There wasn't enough room for me to turn around and although I tried to steady myself by placing a hand on Hermione's shoulders, I fell taking her down with me. And, well, you saw what happened next." I finished quickly and a little lamely.
I saw her brown eyes begin to soften slightly. Encouraged by this sign I said,
"And anyway, Hermione isn't nearly as pretty as you," I saw Ginny begin to grin through her tears. I stepped closer to her until we were eye to eye. Women, do they always have to cry? I wondered.
I lifted Ginny's chin up a little toward mine and I whispered. "I've been waiting forever to do this," I saw her brown eyes widen in shock as I dipped my head towards her and kissed her gently. As I ended the kiss, Ginny moved in closer while her fingers traced my scar, never commenting about it, and we both were startled when we heard a low meow.
I saw Ginny's eyes widened in fear, but thinking quickly, I pulled out the Invisibility Cloak and draped it over us while at the same time, dragging her towards a corner by a window. Ginny gave me one of her famous searching looks with her brown eyes that seemed to see straight through me, as Professor Dumbledore's blue eyes never could, and felt myself began to drown into them. Ginny broke the spell by muttering, "So this is how you managed to sneak down to Hagrid's without getting caught?" I quickly placed a hand over her mouth and drew her body closer to mine, just in time for Filch to limp past. Once I was certain he was out of sight, I lowered my hand away from Ginny's mouth and stared into her eyes once more. Neither of us spoke for a long time, while the inner fire of her brown eyes grew brighter and began to consume me. I could not bear it any longer and resumed kissing her once again with a fevered passion, while the Transfiguration essay completely left our minds.
The End
Author's Notes:
I would like to thank my betas for helping me with the story: Merlani (for grammar checking), ZZZ9PluralAlpha for his help, and a great thanks to Professor Scroll who did the last checks for grammar mistakes. The beginning of the story 'the silence was deafening' was a challenge on By Flesh Into Gear.